Living on the Plain

Mike Stone

Description

Fifty-eight reflections on the Gospel of Luke

A devotional guide following the Gospel of Luke, for individuals, small group study, or sermon preparation.

The Gospel of Luke is relevant for today's Christian seeking insights on prayer, common humanity, communal equality, and stewardship. Angels, genealogies, miracles, and parables are rendered accessible, and transformed from skimming material to the real heart of the Gospel. This transformation is an invitation for refining one's faith.

In a day-by-day, story-by-story format, Living on the Plain re-tells the Christian journey through fifty-eight reflections for reading the Gospel of Luke that can be used as a daily devotion for personal or group Bible study at any time of the year.

Sujets

• Biblical Studies
• the Gospels
• Philosophie et théologie
• Acts
• Jesús de Nazaret
• Bible study
• Jesus
• New Testament
• Religion
• Jésus de Nazareth

Informations

• Publié par: Church Publishing Incorporated
• Date de parution: 16 octobre 2020
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781640653313
• Langue: English

Extrait

LIVING
on the
PLAIN
LIVING
on the
PLAIN
THE GOSPEL OF LUKE
Mike Stone
Copyright 2020 by Mike Stone
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the written permission of the publisher.
Unless otherwise noted, the scripture quotations are from New Revised Standard Version Bible, copyright 1989 National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.
Church Publishing 19 East 34th Street New York, NY 10016 www.churchpublishing.org
Cover design by Jennifer Kopec, 2Pug Design Typeset by PerfecType, Nashville, Tennessee
A record of this book is available from the Library of Congress. ISBN-13: 978-1-64065-330-6 (paperback) ISBN-13: 978-1-64065-331-3 (ebook)
CONTENTS
Acknowledgments
Introduction: Taste and See
1 God-Lovers
2 Unexpected Messengers
3 Grace without Strings
4 The Model Mary
5 A Real Birth Story
6 Holy Recognition
7 In God s House
8 Repent
9 Abundance for All
10 Belovedness
11 23andWe
12 Resistance
13 Observance
14 Radical Vision
15 Unclean Spirits
16 Blessed to Bless
17 Go Fish
18 Catching the Cooties
19 Friendship
20 New Wineskins
21 The Sabbath
22 Blessings and Woes
23 Accepting Gifts
24 Sowing Seeds
25 Order in the Chaos
26 When Pigs Fly
27 The Importance of Touch
28 Touch and Nourishment
29 Bread for the World
30 Take Up Your Cross
31 Transformation
32 Neighbors
33 Purpose and Joy
34 The Lord s Prayer
35 Do Justly, Love Mercy
36 Breathe Life
37 The Choices We Make
38 Parables of Faith
39 Party Invitations
40 Taste and Welcome
41 Abundant Love
42 Master
43 Believing Is Seeing
44 Flipped Prejudice
45 Persistence
46 As a Child
47 Insight
48 Be the Opposition
49 Symbolic Resistance
50 Authority
51 Eternity
52 Dignity over Piety
53 Fuel for the Journey
54 Weapons of Righteousness
55 Reptilian Choices
56 Extraordinariness
57 Idle Tales
58 A New Call
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
H uge thanks to Church Publishing and for the kind and thorough guidance of my editors, Sharon Pearson and Wendy Barrie. The Rev. David Peters made this book possible, encouraging me from a relatively cold call on publishing in general and throughout the publication process, as both tutor and comforter. Lila Anderson, Tim Brown, and Hal Snapp helped me to have the heart to try and make private writings public.
The congregation of St. Thomas the Apostle in Nassau Bay, Texas, was the guinea pig and tester of much of my work and they, like the wonderful people of Christ Church in Coronado, California, and St. Alban s in El Cajon, California, mentored me not only in faithful ministry, but in faithful humanity and nourished both my call and creativity. The Very Rev. Edward Harrison fathered my voice as a priest and called forth from me my own story, without which this book would not have been possible. My clergy colleagues in both Texas and San Diego have called for the best in me and the vision of Bishop Andy Doyle for Bren Brown s Daring Way literally changed the quality and quantity of my life.
My teachers at Gardner-Webb University and Candler School of Theology provided not only content, but a structure and support for content to sink in, become transformative, and seep back out into the world. I am especially grateful for the humility and care of Steve Kraftchick and Neil Walls, the encouragement of Ted Hackett to chance my vocational plans for the better, the extreme patience and accompaniment of Kent Blevins, the intentional inclusion of Gerald Keown, and the maturity modeled by Tom Jones.
Lastly, my family, both parents who spoke their truth in love, children, Daniel and Emory, who revealed the awe and wonder of God s universe, and my partner and spouse, Rebecca, who still makes me want to be a better person eighteen years later and continues to serve as holy mirror, mentor, and foundation. Thanks for teaching me to speak and believing that my voice might be life-giving to someone else.
Introduction
Taste and See
I was fifteen years old before I was willing to try salsa. It wasn t exactly by choice; I was preoccupied with weight as a high school wrestler and Pace Picante Sauce had almost no effect on my mass, was high in fiber, and was close enough to pasta sauce that it made baked tortilla chips semiedible. Within a few years, I discovered guacamole, although it took a major friend s urging to get me to try some. Then it was sour cream. (I had given up wrestling by then ) Finally, it was refried beans. They all came together for me in my midtwenties at a Costco food sampling: six-layer dip (the cheese was always there for me). I am so grateful now that I was pushed out of my comfort zone with salsa, let alone the guac, but to weave together six different dips in one-what a symphony of flavor Then I met seven-layer dip. Olives on top. A little fruity. Another flavor to learn and to synthesize.
I was raised in the church with flannel boards, memory verses, youth group, Vacation Bible School, service projects, and thrice-weekly services. I savored the Bible daily. As a college freshman, I realized within two weeks of my Introduction to the Old Testament class that I had only acquired one flavor of reading and understanding the Bible when there were many others in the world, flavors that could stimulate not only my mental palate, but my spirit, my body, my relationships. New flavors gave my spirituality new kinds of nutrition and energy. New flavors expanded my world.
The Gospel of Luke has its own distinct flavors: inclusion of women, concern for the poor and outcast, and plain living among all of God s family. To that, add the general flavors of academic Bible study: layers like etymology, source criticism, archaeology, and psychological criticism, to name a few. Together, these flavors make the call to discipleship even more robust, taking on new depths, applications, and challenges. It is my hope that some of these flavors will be new, stimulating, and nourishing. If one gives you heartburn, move on. If it nourishes your spirit, eat up and follow a Jesus who is always bigger than we ve settled for
Living on the Plain is divided into fifty-eight separate reflections on portions from the Gospel of Luke. Not every detail is covered; nor is every story. To make the most of this journey, begin with the citation at the top of each chapter. Read Luke s story and consider what it means for you. Where are you in the story? What do you wish Luke had added or subtracted? What might Luke be calling you toward for your own sake and for the sake of the world? Avoid the study notes in your Bible Read the text first and someone else s thoughts, including mine, second. You can read Living on the Plain as a two-month personal, daily meditation, or divided into chunks as you see fit-some reflections might need more than a day to engage. Each reflection has several embedded questions. The reader might want to answer these in a journal, in the margins, or throw them out all together and ask their own. Groups might enjoy Living on the Plain by sharing responses to the embedded questions, while preachers might consider these questions as Luke s opportunities for the contemporary disciple. Taste at your own pace and I pray that Living on the Plain enhances your faith palate
God-Lovers
Read Luke 1:1-4
L uke s beginning targets both his audience and purpose, and thereby offers a target for our own journey, both through the book and into faith. Tradition identifies Luke as the physician who shared time with Paul on a missionary journey, as described in the Acts of the Apostles, the second of Luke s writings. If so, Luke was not an eyewitness to the events he describes and has collected sayings and stories of Jesus, likely using Mark s Gospel as an outline and another yet-to-be-discovered document that the evangelist Matthew also seemed to have used (commonly known as Q ).
Luke organized each story or saying as a brushstroke in his portrait of who Jesus is and what he means. There is an Eastern tradition that locates Luke as the first iconographer and that Luke s representations of the saints and Jesus himself are not only traditional, but historically accurate. Understanding Luke as an iconographer is a helpful approach as we begin our study, as icons are not prayed to, but prayed through. Their gaze is meant to help the viewer search themselves and search out the grace of God through the saint depicted: in this case, Jesus. In writing his account for Theophilus, Luke acknowledges the stories about Jesus have already been presented by many.
Theophilus may have been a friend or acquaintance of Luke, but was more likely a general address. Theophilus is a Greek compound that is best translated God-lover. Luke writes an account of Jesus s life and ministry and what it might mean for the future of humanity to these God-lovers. In reading this book, consider yourself in part of Luke s audience. Not sure if you love God enough? No worries. God-lover may mean something like curious enough to do some sniffing-out after. As a college student, I heard about the ministry of a particular Ivy League chaplain who was frequently confronted by brazen students confronting his piety with the challenge, I don t believe in God. The wise chaplain, so the s